A Rock and Bull Story

Placard-carrying hecklers were aswarm on Chapman University’s quad as a distinguished, silver-haired man stepped to the podium.

They booed and hissed as the university president motioned to his companion on the dais. “We present this honorary degree to . . . Bullwinkle the Moose.”

“Good morning, children!” the familiar galumphing voice rang out.

The protesters waved signs that read “Noose the Moose” and “A Wolf in Moose Clothing,” all the while showing their displeasure at “Mooster Know-It-All.”

People driving by the campus north of Orange’s traffic circle who saw the mayhem recently needn’t have worried. For five days over the last few weeks, Chapman was transformed into “Wossamotta U” for the filming of “The Rocky & Bullwinkle Movie.” And the protesters were among the 500 Chapman students and faculty drafted as extras for the film.

Why were they upset?

“Wossamotta U. was originally an animated college, but when the cartoon series went into syndication, it became a live-action campus,” explained Tiffany Ward, executive producer of the film and daughter of Rocky and Bullwinkle creator Jay Ward.

With Bullwinkle returning to receive an honorary doctorate, “members of the Anti-Animation League are worried that the campus will once again become animated--and they’ll be forced into going to cartoon classrooms,” she added.

But as the cameras turned, recording Bullwinkle pontificating about trees, the student actors burst into wild applause when they decided they had nothing to fear.

The filming had the effect of standing Chapman University--a respected institution of higher learning--on its ear. Memorial Hall? Make that Peabody Hall. Roosevelt Hall? Try the Sherman Library. For film aficionados, Wilkinson Hall was transformed into the J Ward Infirmary.

The feature film, directed by Des McAnuff (“Big River” and “Tommy”) for Tribeca Productions, marks the motion picture debut of the cartoon characters created by Ward for ABC-TV in 1959.

In the film, the animated Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle are joined by live-action villains Boris Badenov (Jason Alexander), Natasha Fatale (Rene Russo) and Fearless Leader (Robert De Niro, who also is a co-producer of the movie).

“The Rocky & Bullwinkle Movie,” scheduled for release in the summer of 2000, also features Randy Quaid as FBI Director Cappy von Trappment; Janeane Garofalo as movie executive Minnie Mogul; and James Rebhorn as U.S. President Signoff. Whoopi Goldberg, John Goodman and Carl Reiner make cameo appearances.

The story line: Rocky and Bullwinkle are living off shrinking residuals from reruns of their old TV series. The two pals are recruited to help an intrepid FBI agent (Piper Perabo) foil a dastardly plot of world domination by the Pottsylvanian No-Goodniks Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader. The evil-minded trio plot to overthrow the president and create a new, omniscient TV network.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons have attracted a devoted following over the years for their wit, imagination and topical humor. When Ward died in 1989 at 69, his influence was noted in an obituary that ran in a San Diego newspaper: “For those in the baby-boom generation, ‘Rocky & His Friends’ was--and is--their cartoon.”

The series frequently satirized politics and the military, focusing on the Cold War as American animals battled wits with Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader, the dastardly villains from the Eastern bloc-like Pottsylvania.

Long before “The Simpsons,” social commentary and silliness collided in Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes such as “The Guns of Abalone” and “The Whale: Maybe Dick.” And who could forget the authoritative voice of narrator William Conrad, who closed each episode with lines such as “You’ll see how it works out next time on ‘The Spies of Life’ or ‘When a Fella Needs a Fiend.’ ”

The series included 156 original episodes from 1959 to 1964, with reruns appearing on network TV until 1973. (Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes now air Sundays at 4 a.m. on the Cartoon Network.)

But can the dim-witted moose and flying squirrel from Frostbite Falls, Minn., capture the imagination of a new generation?

“With this script, it feels like you stepped right out of the TV show and into a movie,” Tiffany Ward said during a break in shooting.

At Chapman, rehearsal and filming took hours as technicians tried to adapt to the overcast skies that threatened rain. Time and again, camera angles weren’t quite right. Director McAnuff, formerly the creative force behind the La Jolla Playhouse, carefully coordinated scenes in which live actors would be paired with animated characters later.

Expect state-of-the-art, computer-generated animation from George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

“The characters will have a real sense of dimension, which helps tremendously to integrate them into the physical environment of the real, or live action, world,” said Roger Guyett, an ILM visual effects supervisor.

“We can look forward to seeing Rocky and Bullwinkle in a whole new light. Their movements will be quite sophisticated. But at the same time, we want to maintain the animals’ unique personalities and blend everything into a look and feel that is both modern and true to Rocky and Bullwinkle’s roots.”

Laboring behind the scenes, 17 Chapman students worked over their spring break as interns on the film project. It proved valuable for two film production students.

“Working in wardrobe requires you to pay attention to a lot of details . . . like matching up vouchers and hanging costumes in exactly the right way,” said Andrea Crawford, a junior who was working long hours without pay for the experience. “We even had to wander around the campus to make sure nobody was wearing anything they weren’t supposed to.”

Amanda Moshier said they were the first to arrive and the last to leave each day. But the time in between allowed the film students to talk to cast and crew members.

“That’s really where the best learning happens,” Moshier said. “They let us pick their brains. Everyone’s been so friendly and helpful.”

Crawford confessed that she didn’t really understand the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons as a kid, but she has grown to appreciate the series’ depth, and its mocking of Cold War-era sensibilities.

“I never had a clue about the politics going on. . . . It was over my head,” she said. “But now, I can see how the stories work on these different levels. It kind of makes you think and laugh at the same time.”